Ski School

Anthony LOVED ski school. We arrived a bit early the first day to watch him in action. I was pretty impressed with what he accomplished in one short (exhausting) day. He was shuffling around on his little skis and could glide down a short hill under his own power.

At the end of the first day he graduated to level 2. The instructor warned me that level 2 was hard as 4 year olds don't really have the muscle development to snowplow. She was right, we're going to do at least one more round of level 2. That's okay, he's having a great time and we are thrilled to death!

Snow!

Sometimes I think Anthony is leading a very deprived childhood. When we were in Omaha, he saw a small pile of very old, very dirty snow and wanted to touch it; it was the only snow he'd seen in a long time.

We headed up to Tahoe for a weekend skiing. Anthony woke up just as we pulled into the resort (11:30 pm) and was SO EXCITED to see snow out the window.

There wasn't much snow, its been a remarkably dry winter. However, there were a few piles of it and we let Anthony play for awhile before ski school. He refused to wear gloves leaving the condo. One touch of snow, though, and he wanted them on his hands!

Monkey Boy

He made it across the monkey bars all by himself!

Surprise Birthday Party

We had a surprise party after church today to celebrate Pastor Mark's 60th birthday. Anthony was VERY excited to see the pinata, but then a little worried about how it worked. At his parties, the kids can see the pinata, its stationary and then they try and hit it with a bat. Then, they don't make a dent in the thing and the grown-ups finish it off.

It was pretty funny watching Anthony watch Pastor Mark hit the rafters of the fellowship hall rather than the pinata. He was very concerned about the whole thing. He was also a bit reluctant to take his turn at bat until I reassured him that he didn't have to wear a blindfold.


I was actually quite impressed with the behavior of the other kids today. Generally I think that pinatas bring out the worst in kids with the greedy scramble for candy.

Three highpoints:
1. Anthony randomly started near the front of the line with a few of his little friends behind a bunch of ten(?) year olds. The bigger kids saw the little ones and pushed them to the front of the line.
2. Another big kid gave Anthony a piece of his candy. I assume it was with parental prodding, but it was still nice.
3. Anthony was chewing away on his lollipop and holding two pieces of chocolate when I noticed that his girlfriend M. was out of candy. I asked him to share with her and he did so willingly.

I mean it when I say that M. is his girlfriend. They are SO cute together. She looks forward to seeing him as much as he's excited to see her. (The other day they had a rough time getting out the door. M's mom said, "I bet Anthony will be there" and out she skipped.

First Place!

We rode the tandem + trailer in the Los Gatos Street Scramble today. Despite our late start and our team member who wanted to abandon the race for the playground we passed, "Bob, the Babe and the Boy" came in first place!

I'd hoped Anthony would be able to participate a little more than he did. Most of the "clues" were too hard for him. The numbers we had to spot were too high, or finding the last word on the first line of the plaque was just too tricky. And, of course, it was a race and Mama has a brutal competitive streak. (Even when I knew we had no chance due to our late start.) Well, we managed to beat the other team in our field of two. Yep, stomped the Boy Scouts.

I'm actually pleased with how we did. Bob and I worked well together as a team** and my navigating skills improved significantly over past events.

We're bit of a Street Scramble Powerhouse, if I don't say so myself. We won our first race with Janet (Bob and the Babes). I know we placed in our 2nd Millbrae Street Scramble. We're choosing to forget the San Francisco Day and Night (3hr, 6 hr and 12 hr options) where we were so late that we had zero points.

**If you overlook the part where we put the tandem rack on the car.

Special Student

This week was Anthony's turn to be special student at preschool. We made a poster to share with his friends. It included pictures with his friends and family (Mommy, Daddy and his cousins) and pictures of his favorite things to do like riding his bike, playing dress-up and camping.

The Special Student gets all sorts of privileges including doing the calendar, counting students leaving the playground, and of course, ringing the bell.

Fun in the Pool

Ask any child what the best part about staying in a hotel, and they will respond "the pool". Anthony is no exception, he was a veritable fish. Or shark, actually, as demonstrated in the top photo.

He's gotten pretty brave. He had a great time jumping off the side of the pool. He kept making me back up so that I could no longer catch him! Basically he'd just jump in the water and then I would scoop him up.

I'm really looking forward to swim lessons starting next summer!

Pop-up books

A few years ago I became aware of the work of Robert Sabuda. His pop-up books are AMAZING and The Wizard of Oz is no exception. Anthony LOVES the copy Joshua gave him for Christmas. It even came with a pair of green spectacles.

Twins!

Bob's Aunt Kathy gave the boys matching Huskers shirts for Christmas. When she gave them the packages, she told me that they wouldn't actually like the presents. Safe assumption, what kid likes getting clothes? She was so wrong, the presents were a HIT! The boys really liked their matching shirts.